We still have plenty of time and music left in 2011, but since we’re at the halfway (or so) mark, we thought it made sense to pause and take stock of the best albums of the year so far. There was some science behind the final tally: Each one of us made a list and assigned points to the records on it; Scott handled the complex mathematics and figured out the exact rankings based on those results. (Not all the bands each one of us voted for made it onto the Top 20, so we’ve also included smaller lists of personal, excluded favorites.)

Things to consider: We didn’t include any albums that haven’t surfaced (aka “leaked”) on any larger scale as of yet (see: Beirut). We also didn’t include deeply underground metal or noise: You’ll notice a couple of metal bands on the Top 20 (and one noise project) — all are groups we believe have crossed over enough into the non-metal/noise dialogue/iPod and make sense for inclusion. (For a more extensive metal-specific list, you’ll have to wait for Haunting The Chapel to get its act together.)